BBC Nurse Earns Board Certification

Like other advanced practice nursing roles, upon completion of an accredited curriculum, advanced practice nurses are eligible for nurse specialty certification by the Michigan Board of Nursing. To earn the board certification, and individual must incorporate a blend of professional experience and education, adhere to the American Hospital Association professional standards, and pass the certification examination. The exam covers compliance, planning, design and construction, maintenance and operations, finance, and administration.

A graduate of Kellogg Community College, the University of Michigan, and Liberty University, Kelly has worked for the hospital for 25 years, starting out as a staff nurse in the intensive care unit at Community Hospital and now holding her current position at BBC since 2009. She is also a trainer for the End-of-Life Nurse Education Consortium project, a national education initiative to improve end-of-life palliative care.

Palliative care is a specialized area of healthcare that focuses on relieving and preventing the suffering of all patients regardless of disease stage. Additionally, the center of care is to promote a holistic approach in which quality of life is addressed from the psychosocial, physical, cultural, and spiritual needs of each individual.

Bronson Battle Creek is a 218-bed hospital that provides full outpatient and inpatient acute care including robotic surgery, diagnostics, and rehabilitation services; 100% all private rooms. It also offers world-class diagnostic capabilities including PET/CT imaging, freestanding ‘open’ and traditional MRI, CT (16- and 64-slice), and 3.0 Tesla MRI. Bronson Battle Creek has been recognized nationally as one of the safest hospitals, and has been a leader in the development of electronic health records as evidenced by multiple honors as one of America’s ‘most wired’ and ‘most wireless’ hospitals. The Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons recognizes the Bronson Battle Creek Cancer Care Center as a Comprehensive Community Cancer Program, and the only hospital in Michigan to receive the CoC’s Outstanding Achievement Award three times in a row. Specialty services include inpatient behavioral health, the county’s largest accredited sleep center, and a wound-healing center with hyperbaric oxygen therapy. For nine years, Bronson Healthcare has been included on Working Mother magazine’s 100 Best Companies list as a leading family friendly employer.